The Boy Scouts undergoing brand and partnership changes

The Boy Scouts won’t be known as the Boy Scouts much longer. And Boys Scouts of America’s (BSA’s) formal relationship with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (a.k.a., the Mormon Church) won’t last much longer either.BSA, the organization that oversees the Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and a few other scouting programs, announced on May 2 that the Boy Scouts would be renamed Scouts BSA, starting in February 2019.About a week after the announcement, multiple news agencies reported that the Mormon Church would end its association with the Boy Scouts of America, effective Dec. 31, 2019. They also reported that the church is set to begin its own programs for boys and girls in 2020. Since 1913, “any boy in a Mormon congregation” has “automatically” had a Boy Scout membership, the British Broadcast Corp. reported in a story posted Wednesday (May 9) online.As Fortune magazine and other news outlets reported, the Mormon Church justified ending its chartered partnership with BSA and its sponsorship of Scout entities by saying the church’s global growth had produced the need to form its own programs for young people. However, the church claimed in a statement that it would keep supporting “the goals and values reflected in the Scout Oath and Scout Law.” The church also said it wished BSA well.But multiple news outlets reported that the split might not be as amiable as the church suggested. News agencies suggested that a turning point in the relationship between the Mormons and the BSA came with the BSA’s 2015 decision to allow openly gay adults to serve as Scout leaders – a point of contention with the Mormon Church because of its opposition to same-sex unions. According to a story by New York Times reporter Christine Hauser, the severing of ties began in 2017. In May 2017, the Mormon Office of the First Presidency issued a letter stating the church would cease chartering “Varsity or Venturing” BSA or Scouts Canada units as of New Year’s Day 2018.